Being atop the American League Power Rankings in the third week of April isn't anything to get too excited about. The third week of September would be preferable.

That being said, for an Oakland A's team missing two of their best three starting pitchers, being in first place and having the league's best record is an unexpected -- but very satisfying -- start to a long baseball season.

The A's are one of only two AL teams that have separated themselves from a pack that includes just about everyone else. After Oakland, the league is a who's who of mediocrity. The only exception is the Houston Astros, who stand-out for all the wrong reasons. Houston's 5-14 record makes it the league's worst team.

How do the other 13 teams shake out?

[Ed. Note: Rankings do not reflect the results of Monday night's games.]

No. 1: Oakland A's (13-5) First place, AL West. Last week, No. 1

No Jarrod Parker, no A.J. Griffin? No problem.

Last week, Oakland went 5-1 against divisional opponents Houston and Los Angeles. Oakland's pitching has allowed a league-best 55 runs, their run differential is a major-league best plus-32, and the team ERA is only 2.48.

Can they keep up this pace? Probably not. But then again, that's what we said last week.

This week, the A's host second-place Texas before heading south to face interstate rival Houston.

Will the A's be No. 1 next Monday? At this point, it seems silly to doubt them

No. 2: Detroit Tigers (9-6) First place, AL Central. Last week, No. 2

The fact that the Tigers are in first place in their division and ranked second in the Power Rankings probably doesn't surprise anyone.

The fact that they're doing that with Miguel Cabrera hitting just .220 with one home run and seven RBIs is pretty impressive.

The two-time AL MVP has been anything but this season, but that hasn't stopped Detroit from winning games.

Detroit won three out of five games against the Indians and then the Angels. With games against the White Sox and Twins this coming week, Detroit has a chance to put separation between themselves and some of their division rivals. Plus, Cabrera has to heat up at some point.

New York dominated the Cubs at home before traveling to Tampa, where they split a four-game road series against their division rivals.

The Bronx Bombers have gotten big contributions from their newest players. Tanaka has been great. Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Yangervis Solarte have all been impressive. Perhaps most encouraging is that the Yankees have been able to win in spite of injuries to Mark Teixeira and David Robertson.

The injuries to Teixeira and Robertson were both fairly minor. Starting pitcher Ivan Nova's injury appears to be far more serious. His torn elbow ligament is all but certain to require season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Nova's injury will force the Yankees to find another starting pitcher. They'll start by giving chances to Vidal Nuno and David Phelps.

This week, the Yankees head to Boston for three games against their old rivals. Then they return home to the Bronx where they'll play host to the Angels.

No. 4: Texas Rangers (11-8) Second place, AL West. Last week, No. 10

Oakland isn't the only team winning despite a whole bunch of major injuries.

No Jurickson Profar, no Derek Holland, no Adrian Beltre, no Geovany Soto, no problem!

Last week, Texas ran into two of the AL's hotter early season teams, and came out on top. The Rangers took three of four from the Mariners and then two of three from the upstart White Sox.

Elvis Andrus leads the league in stolen bases, and Shin-Soo Choo is almost impossible to keep off the bases.

Yu Darvish looks like a true ace, and the rest of the Rangers starters have been better than advertised.

This week will be a big test. The Rangers hit the road for three games in Oakland and then another three in Seattle. Can they keep winning, or will the road expose the team's shortcomings?

A 10-9 team probably hasn't been all that hot or all that cold. That's a good way to describe the Orioles, who have won some and lost some.

Baltimore hasn't been great on the mound and they've also struggled at the plate.

Injuries aren't helping either. Manny Machado isn't back from a serious knee injury, and the team lost J.J. Hardy to a hamstring pull on Sunday night.

Once they get healthy, the Orioles should be one of the league's best hitting teams, but the pitching is a legitimate concern. The Orioles had tons of offense in 2013, but that didn't get them into the postseason.

Can the Orioles' pitchers get on track?

Facing Jose Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays this week won't be easy. Coming home to face the weak-hitting Kansas City Royals next weekend could be an ideal opportunity for starters such as Bud Norris, Ubaldo Jimenez and Miguel Gonzalez to gain some confidence.

No. 8: Minnesota Twins (9-9) Third place, AL Central. Last week, No. 9
No one would have expected the Twins to rank second in the AL in runs scored. Unfortunately, they've also allowed more runs than all but two fellow AL teams.

The real problem in Minnesota is that players like Chris Colabello, Jason Kubel and Brian Dozier will probably see their bats cool off. Can the Twins count on starting pitchers Phil Hughes, Ricky Nolasco and Mike Pelfrey to make dramatic improvements to their poor early season performances? Probably not.

The Twins head to Tampa where their hot bats might be able to take advantage of the Rays injury-depleted pitching staff. Then, they head home to face the first-place Tigers in what could be a very tough three-game series next weekend.

No. 9: Tampa Bay Rays (9-10) Fourth place, AL East. Last week, No. 7

Losing Jeremy Hellickson to start the season was bad. Losing Alex Cobb until late May or early June was worse, and losing Matt Moore for the whole season? That could end up being the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The Rays are in trouble. They've lost five of their last seven games, and their bullpen is getting worn down. Their offense was never supposed to be the team's strength, but, with a starting rotation made up of David Price, Chris Archer and three fill-ins, the team is going to end up leaning on its offense for a change.

That worked out fine when they routed the Yankees 16-1 on Saturday, but Sunday's 5-1, 12-inning loss was a reminder that their bats aren't always going to come through for them.

The Rays host the Twins before traveling to Chicago to face the White Sox, who have scored more runs than any other AL squad.

No team in the AL has scored more than the Chicago White Sox, who have plated 106 runs.

No team in the AL has allowed more runs than the 106 the White Sox have allowed to cross the plate.

All of that offense couldn't prevent the White Sox from losing two out of three to the Red Sox, and then another two out of three to the Rangers.

The whole lineup looks locked-in. Alexei Ramirez and Jose Abreu are both on fire. Conor Gillaspie and Adam Eaton are also off to great starts. That hasn't been enough to support a pitching staff that has, to this point, been Chris Sale and a bunch of fairly forgettable performances.

Road games against the Detroit Tigers and home games against the Tampa Bay Rays won't be easy. Chicago looks a lot better than last year's version, but not good enough to really contend.

No. 11: Boston Red Sox (9-11) Fifth place, AL East. Last week, No. 13

It wasn't a terrible week for the Red Sox, but it could have been a lot better.

Road wins against the White Sox were much needed, and Sunday night's dramatic comeback against the Orioles certainly had a 2013-like feel to it.

Nonetheless, there are still plenty of hitters who aren't hitting. John Lackey looks nothing like the guy who was a such a gamer for most of 2013.

This team really needs to get healthy. Will Middlebrooks and Shane Victorino will both be back from the disabled list soon, but that's not going to help with the Yankees and Masahiro Tanaka coming to town Tuesday night.

The Yankees will be a very tough matchup for the Red Sox, and the hot-hitting Blue Jays will make next weekend's road trip north of the border an unexpected challenge as well.

It was a rough week for the Angels. They faced the AL's two best teams, and true to form, they lost two out of three to both the Tigers and A's.

The Angels aren't that bad of a team. They're not playing their best baseball, but they better get going soon, because they're heading on a seven-game road trip that will take them to Washington and then the Bronx.

The Yankees and Nationals aren't quite as good as the Tigers and A's, but they're not easy matchups, and considering all seven games are on the road, the Halos need to guard against a prolonged stretch of sub-.500 baseball.

No team moved up the Power Rankings more than the Kansas City Royals. At the other end of the spectrum are the Seattle Mariners, who plummeted from No. 3 all the way to No. 14.

The road has not been kind to the Mariners, who have lost six in a row, including a weekend sweep in Miami to the Marlins, of all teams.

The pitching has been pretty good, but the bats are asleep. No matter how good Robinson Cano is -- or will be -- he can't do it himself. Cano is off to a slow start, but he's still one of the team's best offensive threats.

The Mariners are hitting .225 and their on-base percentage is a woeful .283.

Some relief may be on the way, though. The Mariners return home for a six-game stretch that includes three against the league-worst Astros.

Look for Seattle to snap that losing streak and get back on track this week. If that doesn't happen, then it might be panic time in the Pacific Northwest.

No. 15: Houston Astros (5-14) Fifth place, AL West. Last week, No. 14

Houston spent all of 2013 at the bottom of the Power Rankings. This season, it took them three weeks, but they're back at the bottom, and there's ample reason to think that they'll be there for a while.

The Astros have scored only 52 runs, the least amount in all of baseball. Top prospect George Springer was promoted last week in an effort to spark the club, but if there was a spark, it was only on social media. Houston has lost seven in a row and they haven't scored more than four runs in a game since Saturday, April 12.

The longer this team struggles, the more likely it is that the Astros start to promote some of their other talented prospects. First baseman Jonathan Singleton is certainly one to keep an eye on.

Houston still seems like a safe-bet to improve on their 111-loss 2013 season, but that improvement might not be enough to prevent another 100-loss season.